It's Gratitude That Keeps Me Going Despite Ongoing Police Criminal Violence: Only The Lonely Poem by Dennis Ryan

Tuesday morning, January 9, 2024 at 5: 46 a.m.; continued Thursday morning, January 11 at 7: 21 a.m. and Tuesday morning, January 16, 2024 at 6: 27 a.m.

—for the waitress who serves me coffee at Nighthawks

'So you can call out my name
when you're only lonely …'
—'You're Only Lonely', J.D. Souther, 'You're Only Lonely', You Tube Music Video

Despite all of the personal hardships,
and having experienced so much violence,
trauma at the hands of the police—including
witnessing both of my sons repeatedly beaten
by them and their surrogates in crime—I remain
hopeful, positive, and surprisingly largely courageous;
and, equally surprisingly, continue to feel a certain
tenderness of heart, a certain softening—only the lonely—
when it comes to my personal relationships with others.
I can't explain it, but remain deeply grateful for it. Only
the lonely …. It's this Gratitude that keeps me going.